# Hydrocortisone

Source: https://onco.cc/drugs/hydrocortisone/  
OnCo record `hydrocortisone` (Treatment). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Hydrocortisone is a steroid medicine. The WHO lists the injection as an essential medicine for treating lymphoid leukaemia and Burkitt lymphoma, as part of the treatment plan.

## Summary

Hydrocortisone is on the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines in several sections. In the cancer section on hormones and antihormones it is listed as a 100 mg vial for injection (as sodium succinate) for lymphoid leukaemia and for Burkitt lymphoma including Burkitt leukaemia. The EML status history gives the cancer listings: added in 2003 for unspecified malignant neoplasms (TRS 920; removed in 2015), in 2015 for lymphoid leukaemia (TRS 994) and in 2021 for Burkitt lymphoma (TRS 1035). Elsewhere on the list it is there for anaphylaxis, adrenal insufficiency, skin and eye inflammation and inflammatory bowel disease. The US label for the injection (Solu-Cortef, held by Pharmacia & Upjohn Company LLC and carrying Pfizer Hospital branding) lists, under neoplastic diseases, the palliative management of leukaemias and lymphomas. The corpus's other glucocorticoids are dexamethasone, prednisone and methylprednisolone.

## Fields

- Kind: Treatment
- Status: approved
- Last checked: 2026-11-03
- Also known as: hydrocortisone; hydrocortisone sodium succinate; Solu-Cortef
- Tags: universe-gap; who-eml
- Brand: Solu-Cortef
- Modality: Corticosteroid (glucocorticoid; injection, tablets, cream)
- Mechanism: A glucocorticoid corticosteroid (WHO eEML); the US label calls the injection an anti-inflammatory glucocorticoid and lists the palliative management of leukaemias and lymphomas among its uses.
- Approvals: WHO 2015: Essential Medicines List, hormones and antihormones: lymphoid leukaemia (2015, TRS 994); Burkitt lymphoma including Burkitt leukaemia (2021, TRS 1035)

## Sources

- WHO eEML: Hydrocortisone: https://list.essentialmeds.org/medicines/33
- US label: Solu-Cortef (DailyMed): https://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/drugInfo.cfm?setid=65eefd58-b166-4d71-ade6-45c8fdf86922

## Connected records

- drugs: [Dexamethasone](https://onco.cc/drugs/dexamethasone/), [Methylprednisolone](https://onco.cc/drugs/methylprednisolone/), [Prednisone](https://onco.cc/drugs/prednisone/)
- cancers: [Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia](https://onco.cc/cancers/all-leukemia/), [Burkitt lymphoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/burkitt-lymphoma/)
- targets: [Glucocorticoid receptor (NR3C1)](https://onco.cc/targets/glucocorticoid-receptor/)

---
JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/entities/hydrocortisone.json